Winter’s Wonder breaks his maiden at Tampa; Handsome Mike moves up to 10th

Winter’s Wonder accomplished three objectives yesterday while winning the second race at Gulfstream Park, a $45,000 maiden special at one mile over the turf course.

First, the 4-year-old gelding broke his maiden and became Handsome Mike’s 23rd winner this year. Second, he earned a check for $27,500 to raise Handsome Mike’s progeny earnings for the year to $538,763, moving the son of Scat Daddy from 13th to 10th on Florida’s General Sire list, right behind Treasure Beach. Third, he earned Joe and Helen Barbazon an eye-opening eighth breeders’ award (five at Gulfstream and three at Tampa Bay Downs) in the last 16 days.

Winter’s Wonder sat a comfortable third on the rail under Cristian Torres, three lengths off the lead, for most of the one-mile trip. Torres rushed him up three wide to battle for the lead on the turn, and the $10,000 OBS March 2-year-old held off 9/10 favorite Mony by 1 1/2 lengths at the wire, clocked in 1:37.79 and paying $6.20 as second choice.